Hidden
by SanzoFanatic29
Summary: YuanxKratos. Yuan's been attacked by an unknown force. He now must live with Kratos. Yuan can't hide his feelings for Kratos forever. Will Kratos return Yuan's love? Takes place a year after the game, contains spoilers.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do NOT own Tales of Symphonia or any of the characters.

**Hidden**

**Chapter 1**

I shielded my eyes from the sun. Yawning softly as I sat up, rubbing the sleep from my eyes. My legs swung over the bed as my eyes surveyed my room. It had been a year since we defeated Mithos. Things had quieted down a great deal when Mithos died but there were still few stubborn groups of Desians here and there.

The Renegades usually silenced any growing Desian activity. But now and again Lloyd and his friends, including myself, would help. After all the Renegades were the ones building a government for the new world. They had enough on their hands.

Standing, I walked out of my room and into the kitchen ready to raid my fridge. Although the knocking at the door preventing me from doing so. As the door creaked open I wrinkled my nose in annoyance to find a Renegade soldier.

"What do you want?"

"Kratos Aurion. Desians have been abusing people again. Lo---"

"And Yuan wants me to stop them," I interrupted.

"Yes but first, Lord Yuan wishes you to stop by his office", the Renegade exclaimed.

A groan slipped its way past my lips, "Why?"

"He didn't say..."

"Fine."

The soldier nodded as he left to go back to the base.

Closing the door I went to my room, slipping my sweatpants off as I rummaged through my dresser for my clothes.

Finding my dark blue and white shirt and putting it on along with my blue and white pants. In another drawer a bunch of belts were neatly folded. Taking them out I began to buckling them on one at a time. Finally finishing with my belts I slipped my cloak on. I found myself liking this outfit much better them my purple one.

I moved to my closet after getting dressed so my armor could be put on. When that was finished I took my sword out from the corner of the closet, and headed for the door. Getting into my garage, which is where my rheaird awaited me. It was a sky blue. Not sure why but I was very fond of the color.

I shrugged the thought away and started the machine. With a click of a button my garage door opened and I started off. An easier way would be to simply fly there. But there was no need to rush there so it didn't matter. Besides I didn't like using my wings that often, people stared at me to much.

I looked down at the towns and landscape that were passing under me. Things certainly improved, especially for half-elves. Raine and Genis did a good job stopping some of the discrimination against them. But others started changing on their own over time. Maybe it was because the leader of the Renegades, the government was a half-elf. But there were still some stubborn people refusing to accept the change but things were slowly improving.

I was already almost there. Yuan's new base was called the Symphonia Base. Yuan was certainly very uncreative when it came to naming something. It made me chuckle at the thought of what he might name his pet or child.

Reaching my destination I landed and dismounted, looking around at my surroundings. This base was in the middle of a valley. Finally a Renegade base built in a decent environment. Not a damn desert or freezing island like the others.

My gaze followed up to the top of the high building, it was much like the others. As I made my way to the entrance, the guards saluted me. The door automatically slid open as I approached. The same Renegade soldier that had come to my house was waiting for me inside.

"Please follow me," the soldier said turning around. I followed without saying a word, noticing the Renegade glance back now and again to make sure I was following. The Renegades no longer wore the helmets. And their uniforms were different too. Not by much, but some. They no longer needed to look like Desians.

My gaze glanced about the hall. Even the inside looked similar to the other two. The only drastic change was that the technology was a bit more advanced.

Suddenly the Renegade stopped. Not paying that close attention caused me to almost run into him. The soldier turned around and held out his hand to the side, indicating the door there.

"Lord Yuan awaits you."

Giving a single nod, I headed in. My eyes searched the simple room. A table with different items scattered on it next to the door. A large bookcase was opposite of the entrance. And of course, Yuan's cluttered desk full of paperwork to the left side of the room.

My gaze settled on the blue haired half-elf as he did paperwork. Yuan glanced up just slightly.

"Sit down Kratos."

I paused a moment before sitting down in the chair that was in front of Yuan's desk; waiting and staring intently at the man. I waited for him to speak but he never did. He just sat there, writing and shuffling through papers. It felt like he was ignoring me. Being ignored was something I could never stand. I didn't come all the way here to have him ignore me.

"Tell me what you want or I'm leaving."

For the first time Yuan stopped what he was doing and looked up at me. He stared into my eyes for a long moment before continuing his work. The look in his eyes told me he was struggling on how to say what he wanted. But I didn't have all day to wait around for Yuan to sort it all out in his head. There are better things to do. Yuan shouldn't have called for me if he wasn't ready.

I stood, "I'm leaving."

Yuan sighed and put his pen down, turning his full attention to me.

"I want you to join the Renegades."

My only reaction was a somewhat shocked and confused look.

"What?"

"You heard me; I want you to join the Renegades." Yuan snapped.

"No."

"But you have all the right abilities. You'd be great at it."

"No," As my blunt refusal was repeated I saw what Yuan was getting at. He wasn't debating on how to say something. He was looking for a way to convince me to say yes.

"You get paid well. And it's not like you do much but stay at home. Besides you fight the Desians anyway---"

"No," I repeated again, but with a little more demand.

Yuan stared at me with those emerald eyes. The expression on his face was unreadable, but it made me very uncomfortable; making me need to shift my weight.

"Things haven't been the same since Botta died. I could really use someone with your ability... I could really use an old friend's help." Yuan said slowly, his eyes still watching me.

Damn it. He was going to give me a guilt trip. But I'm not the type of person to be so easily won over.

"I'm sorry. But my answer is still no." my tone was as gentle as possible, but with clear authority in my voice.

The reaction from Yuan was totally unexpected. He looked away; he looked like he was crush. The normal Yuan response was to have him scowl at me or comment how stubborn I was. Did it really mean that much to him if I joined?

"Why not?" He quietly mumbled, breaking the long awkward silence.

I looked at him for a moment before answering, trying to figure out why he seemed so hurt by my refusal. "Because... I'm tired of joining little organizations. Cruxis has already torn my family apart and made me do things I'm not proud of." I swallowed hard and forced the painful memories away.

"If it weren't for Cruxis you wouldn't have a family," Yuan hissed.

My calm expression turned into a heated glare. Yuan wiped a hand across his forehead.

"... Sorry."

The long silence dragged on again. The longer it got the more awkward it became. I decided to break it by changing the subject.

"So where are the Desians attacking this time?"

"Hm? Oh. Never mind. I can get my men to take care of it. You're excused." He went back to his paperwork and acted as if I wasn't there again.

A simple look of astonishment at him was my only reaction. He needed my help five minutes ago and now he suddenly changes his mind? The brief thought of the Desians just being an excuse to get me over here crossed my mind. But Yuan knew me. He didn't need a reason. I'd have come anyway.

The only thing I could think of was me not joining the Renegades. But certainly Yuan wouldn't let innocent lives be in danger simply because he was mad at me. Then again, Yuan had a tendency to let his anger get the better of him.

"Yuan..."

"You're excused," He coldly repeated.

I stared at him for a moment longer. My cool expression was turning into a glare again. He wouldn't even look up and meet my eyes. It was obvious he was avoiding it. I couldn't believe how childish he was being.

Turning away, I walked out of the room. It was easy to remember which ways the Renegade had led me when I first came in, so it was easy finding the entrance. Approaching my rheaired I looked back at the tall building. After a minute I turned back and mounted my rheaired and started heading home.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**Author's note**

I apologize if I have some spelling mistakes and if my grammar is horrible. I try. And after I wrote this I realized the outfit I made Kratos wear was his Cruxis outfit. But I decided to keep it because I like that outfit a lot better then his purple one. And obviously Kratos didn't go on Derris Kharlan after the game.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Sadly I do not own Tales of Symphonia.

**Chapter 2**

After parking my vehicle in my garage I went outside. It was a nice warm day. The breeze was gentle. The sky was clear. Taking a deep breath my gaze swept at the rebuilt Luin. Children were laughing and playing in the streets. Women gossiped with one another. Men went about their daily jobs. It was peaceful.

There was no particular reason for picking to live in Luin. I could have lived anywhere else just as easily. But the climate in Luin was perfect, and it was right on the water, which is always a plus.

"It's so peaceful," a raspy voice came from beside me, bringing me back to reality.

I looked over quickly to see a small old lady. She was hunched over and held a cane in her weak hands. She smiled warmly at me before looking back at the town.

"Yes, it is." I replied, turning my gaze back to the town before me.

"Hard to believe just a short time ago this city was in ruins." Sorrow seemed to spark in her eyes at the memory.

"Hm," was all I could think of to say.

"All because of those filthy Desians... Those half-elves," her sorrow soon turned into anger.

I glanced at the old woman. It would appear she was one of the handfuls of people still discriminating half-elves. I gave no comment to her last remark instead I just watched the children play.

She chuckled softly. "I apologize for bringing such a gray topic up," she paused, "Oh how rude of me. My name is Rose."

"It's a pleasure to meet you Lady Rose. I'm Kratos Aurion."

She smiled warmly in reply, a long silence followed. It lasted to the point I was becoming uncomfortable.

"Ah well, I have a grandchild to feed. I must be going. It was nice meeting you Mr. Kratos. Hopefully our paths will cross again." She waved as she turned and walked off.

I blinked as I watched the old lady disappear. What an odd woman. Usually when strangers try starting a conversation and introduce themselves they mean to talk to you a bit more. Maybe she just didn't know what to say. She had tried to talk about the Desians I guess. But I hadn't really kept the conversation going much.

Oh well. It doesn't really matter. Turning to enter my home, I sighed. Another day home alone. Yuan was right as much as I hated to admit it. You could always find me in this house. I never really made friends with anyone in Luin. But that was my own fault for being so anti-social. There was always the possibility of joining Lloyd and his journey to collect all the exspheres. But I wasn't really up to the task. If he asked me to help though of course I would.

Well my day after that went as any other. I trained for a bit, made dinner, went out for a little while then came home for bed. Sleeping and eating wasn't really necessary when you have a Cruxis Crystal but it killed time.

Sighing as I got into bed my mind wandered. Life had become dreadfully boring and uneventful. But I wasn't really doing anything to make it more exciting. So it's a little unfair for me to complain. I had faintly thought about what could be done to make my life more eventful as sleep took me.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**Author's note**

Sorry, this chapter is a bit short. And sorry if Kratos and/or Yuan seem kind of OOC. I'm trying to keep them in character as much as possible.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not own Tales of Symphonia

**Chapter 3**

I heard a faint pounding sound. It seemed to becoming from a distant place, so no need to worry about it. But it came again, a little louder this time. I couldn't seem to figure out what it was coming from. My mind seemed fogged and it was hard to think clearly. A third time, more persistent.

I groaned as my eyes opened, becoming fully awake. Using my elbows to sit up I yawned and looked at the clock to see it was 2:30A.M. The pounding came again. Now being awake I was able to tell it was someone knocking at the door. The urgent knock came once more. I got up and quickly headed for the door. Who the hell would come this late?

I unlocked the door and began to open it, but suddenly someone pushed their way in. Before I had time to react or even tell who it was they shut the door as fast as they could. They pressed their body against the door and they made sound of relief. They sagged down to the floor, breathing heavily.

By this time my eyes had fully adjusted to the dark and I recognized the form sitting on the ground.

"Yuan..?"

He looked up at me. "Sorry... For disturbing you so late... "His tone was a bit off.

I kneeled down next to him. "Don't worry about that. Are you alright? What happened?" It was difficult to keep the concern out of my voice and the way Yuan glanced up at me told me I failed from seeming unworried.

I placed my hand under his arm to help him up until he hissed in pain. Withdrawing my hand quickly as if I had just touched fire, I noticed my hand was wet. The scent of blood was in the air. Considering I could smell it so distinctly without any elven blood to enhance my sense of smell was bad.

I looked at him, when he saw the concern on my face he made a grunting sound.

"I'm fine. It's nothing serious."

He could be so arrogant sometimes.

"I'll be the judge of that."

I wrapped an arm carefully around his waist and helped him up. He growled quietly in protest but didn't push my help away. After getting him to the couch, I turned the light on, squinting from the sudden painful light. As my eyes began to adjust I went back over to Yuan. A soft gasp slipped when I saw him. He was covered in cuts and wounds. The worst looked to be on his right side, slightly under his arm. It was bleeding badly.

I sat down next to him and placed my hand on his arm. Casting First Aid seemed to slow the bleeding a bit. The tingling sensation from doing magic would always be an odd feeling, no matter how many times it was used. Noticing he was still in pretty bad condition I used First Aid again. He seemed to be doing much better now. I was about to cast it a final time, just to be safe, before he interrupted me.

"That'll do," he growled.

I sighed and got up the feeling of his eyes on me as I left the room was a little uncomfortable. Coming back a few minutes later while holding a pair of clothes the curiosity left his eyes.

"Why don't you take a shower and get yourself cleaned up. Then you can tell me what the hell's going on."

He just grunted, so I took that for an 'okay'. After directing him to the bathroom, I sat on the couch and sighed. What kind of trouble has that man gotten himself into this time? I rubbed my hand across my face, and yawned a bit. My eyes turned to look out the window at the starry night sky. I faintly thought about what happened to the other Renegades. The question I wanted to know most was who had attacked Yuan, and why. Well okay, why was a stupid question. I'm sure Yuan has gotten on a lot of people's nerves.

My mind pondered on this till I heard the bathroom door open. I looked over to see Yuan walking in the room. It was quite a site to say the least. He was pulling his pant legs up. I couldn't hold back a chuckle when he tripped over them and almost fell on his face. Can you blame me? To see the fearsome Renegade leader, a four thousand year old Seraphim and he was tripping over a simple pair of jeans. Since I was a bit bigger then Yuan was my clothes were a bit too big on him, but I didn't think it'd be such a problem.

I heard him grumble under his breath as he finally made it to the couch. When he sat down he glared up at me for my amused look at his struggle. I figured that look on his face also meant he was ready for whatever questions I had.

"What happened?"

"Our base was invaded," he gave a tired sigh.

"By who?"

He glared at me slightly, "I don't know."

"Well what about the rest of the Renegades? You didn't just leave them there, did you? Not very leader-like of you." I grunted.

"I didn't abandon them!" It was a bit of a surprise that he shouted. But I stayed silent, letting him continue. "We were taken by surprise when attacked. A good number of my men were lost. Although I made sure the rest were evacuated safely."

"So you ran just like that?" I raised an eyebrow.

"No!" he hissed, "We fought back for a while, but we weren't really prepared for battle," he admitted.

"A good leader should always be ready for anything." I coldly stated.

"I know that!" he said irritated. "But I've been a bit busy with a dozen other things! Making a new government isn't exactly easy!"

I grunted in response, thinking about what else to ask,

"Well where are the other Renegades? Where did you evacuate them?"

"Home," he simply stated.

"Home?" My face twisted with confusion.

"Yes, home. They went where ever they lived before joining the Renegades."

I gave him an odd look. After a few minutes of silence all I could ask was "Why?"

"Why what?" he glared at me, obviously annoyed.

"Why send them home? Don't you have another secret base in case of emergency or something?" I cocked my head to the side slightly, my auburn bangs shifting to cover my eyes a bit.

"Are you an idiot? What if one of my Renegades was disguised as the enemy? My 'hidden base' would no longer be hidden. And what's stopping the enemy from attacking again? We may be more alert but that doesn't mean we're completely ready for an attack. I won't lose anymore of my men for no good end."

I smiled. He was a good leader. A bit short-tempered but he was clever. He cares about his men.

"What are you smiling about?" he glared at me suspiciously.

Noticing that I was still smiling at him, I quickly put no expression on my face again. "No reason." Deciding to change the subject before he pressed it, I went on with my interrogation. "So what are you going to do? If you didn't evacuate the Renegades somewhere then you don't want their help."

"Well I figured I'd find out who attacked my base on my own. Then go from there."

"Hmm..." My gaze settled on the floor as my mind went over the new information for a moment.

Wait a minute...

I looked up at him suspiciously. "Why did you come to my house...?" Dreading the answer.

"Well..." he looked away, "I was hoping you'd let me stay at your place for a while..." He glanced up at me quickly before returning his gaze to the floor. "I can't really return to my base the way it is now," he quickly added.

A soft groaning sound was made from the back of my throat, I was afraid of he'd say something like that. And of course he didn't have any other 'friends' to stay with. I was about to ask him why couldn't he just stay with one of his Renegades or live on his own. But to ask one of your followers if you can live with them would be humiliating. And living on his own would cost Yuan gald he most likely didn't have.

But what if Yuan's attackers found him here? That would put me and the whole town of Luin in danger. This town could end up being destroyed again. I wouldn't have these people's blood on my hands.

"Kratos...?"

I looked up; apparently I must have been silent for to long. He looked impatient... and nervous? Why would he be nervous?

"Alright. You can stay here." Yuan's face lit up for a second till he noticed I was looking and forced it away. Yuan's been acting kind of weird today…

"But you better keep a low profile Yuan. A **really** low profile! We don't need to put the people of Luin in danger." He nodded in agreement.

"Alright then," I stood up, "if that's it I'm going back to bed. I don't have a spare room so you'll have to sleep on the couch."

"Okay." He glanced at the couch he was sitting on.

I went to the closet, took out a blanket and threw it at him. "Here." A smirk slightly touched my lips as it hit him in the face.

As I walked to my bedroom his muffled cursing could be heard as he glared daggers at me.

I closed my door and laid down. What a night. I suppose a more eventful life is what I wanted. Careful what you wish for. This certainly wasn't what was on my mind. I sighed and tried to go to sleep.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I do not own Tales of Symphonia as sad as that is.

**Authors note:** Sorry it took so long. School has really gotten in the way. I'll try to get chapter 5 up sooner but I can't make any promises. Also I tried taking peoples advice in my writing and I have Microsoft Word now so my spelling and grammar shouldn't be so bad anymore. Anyway, on with the story!

**Chapter 4**

I groaned as I began to wake up. Nuzzling into my pillow, I heard a sudden thump in the living room. My eyes snapped open and my head rose slightly, my body tensed up.

Who…? Oh yeah… Yuan. Last night's events rushed back into my head. I groaned again and buried my face into my pillow. It's not like I don't like Yuan. It's just everything we've been through. Being close friends, to enemies to being on the same side again. I don't know if I could call him a friend anymore, we don't really keep in touch other then fighting the Desians. And most of all was how Yuan was acting yesterday. It made me a bit uncomfortable. All this made it feel a little weird to think he'd be living with me. And to top it off someone was after Yuan. Somehow I knew Yuan would drag me into this whole mess. Hell he was already starting to.

I sighed and decided to get up. Shivering slightly as I left the warmth of my bed. I entered the living room to see Yuan was no where in sight. Noticing the blanket he was using last night was neatly folded and draped over the couch.

Suddenly hearing faint sounds coming from the kitchen I walked in to see Yuan cooking. He was wearing an apron and everything. I blinked a few times to make sure I wasn't just seeing things. The great Yuan cooking was a truly amazing and odd sight.

He glanced over his shoulder at me, "Good morning."

"You know… I agreed to let you stay here… Not become my house wife."

He glared at my sarcastic remark.

"Ha-ha. Very funny." He flipped one of the pancakes; it made a loud hissing sound. "You were still sleeping when I woke up so I thought I'd make breakfast."

"So you went through my kitchen without my permission?" My eyebrow rose slightly.

"I did it so you could sleep in then wake up to a nice meal, you ungrateful bastard," he growled.

Grunting, I suppose he was right. I didn't need to make breakfast, which was good. It also smelled delicious. And Yuan looked really cute in an apron.

…

That thought did **not **just cross my mind. There must be some kind of fumes in the air. Either that or I'm going crazy. And after living for over 4,000 years could defiantly be a possibility.

My thoughts were snapped back to reality as Yuan placed a plateful of eggs, bacon and syrup covered pancakes in front of me. It looked as good as it smelled. Yuan sat himself next to me with an identical plate full of food. I looked up and stared at him. "Where's my drink?"

He gave me his 'You've got to be kidding' look. "Oh of course you're Highness! How could I have forgotten? Please forgive your foolish servant!" His dramatic tone made me unable to stop myself from rolling my eyes.

"You're forgiven." My tone dripped with sarcasm.

He 'hmphed' and got up looking through some of the cabinets. "Last one on the left." He nodded and took two cups out, placing them on the table. He opened the fridge and peered in to see the selection.

"Orange juice or milk?"

"Orange juice," I shrugged.

He pulled a carton of orange juice out along with milk. Pouring a glass for me and him. Yuan slid the orange juice towards me, while taking a sip of his milk. After putting both cartons away he sat back down. Alright, I was able to eat now. I cut into my pancakes and took a bite. It was far better then I thought. I savored the taste in my mouth, rolling the food around my tongue. Unable to hold back a moan as my eyes fluttered close.

"Good, isn't it?"

My eyes snapped open to see Yuan smirking at me.

Silently cursing at myself for acting that way, I scowled and shrugged. "It's okay." Yuan's smirk only widened. My attempt to save some of my dignity failed miserably.

Deciding to change the subject I looked at him seriously. "So what are you going to do? Last night you said you'd figure out who attacked you. Well how exactly are you going to do that?" I already knew the answer but decided to ask anyway.

He took a bite of his eggs, "well I figured we can go back to my base to see if there are some clues. Then—"

He was cut off when I almost choked on my pancakes. "Wait… cough did you just say 'we'? cough" I managed after coughing for a few minutes.

"Well… Maybe."

"No. There is no 'we' there is you. You're living here, that's it. I have no other part in this." Scowling at him while taking another bite of my pancakes.

"But… You want me out of here right? Then I'll be gone faster if you help me. Besides, the sooner I'm gone the sooner the people of Luin are safe.' He took a sip of his milk.

He was right about that. These people are in danger as long as Yuan's around. Sighing, I finished my pancakes and moved to my eggs. "Fine, I'll help." He smirked slightly.

Yeah, Yuan's defiantly acting strange.

We landed in front of the Renegade Base. Or at least what was left of it anyway. It was completely reduced to rubble. Whoever did this certainly didn't want anyone to try to repair and use any of its technology. Yuan swept his gaze over the remainder of the base, his base. I could see a faint twinge of sorrow and regret in his eyes. It must be hard to see what his base had become. That sorrow and regret soon turning into anger.

"Well shall we get started?" He made his way to the rubble. I nodded and followed him.

After moving debris, pushing boulders, digging through dust and dirt, and almost being crushed to death half a dozen times all afternoon I was growing tired and rather annoyed. As much as it would be nice to get Yuan out of my house, this just wasn't worth it. We didn't even know what we were looking for. For all we know we could have over looked the very thing we are searching for. The thought of that made my body ache even more.

"How about a break?" Yuan grunted as he shoved another small boulder out of his way. Yuan seemed to be just as exhausted as I was. Nodding, I sat down on a large rock. Yuan seated himself on the boulder he had just moved. We sat in silence for a while, enjoying resting our weary bodies, till a thought came to mind.

"What if it was the Desians that attacked you?" That made sense; I don't see why I didn't think of it before.

"You think so? I didn't think there was that large of a group of Desians left. And so organized too…" Yuan pushed some dirt with his foot as he thought about it. He was right about that. Without a leader they shouldn't have been so successful with the invasion. Another few moments passed in silence. Yuan broke it this time.

"Why do you think Desians are still around?" he paused, "I mean… It's not that shocking that some couldn't get use to the idea of the new world after Cruxis fell. I suspected some to revolt and go on there own. But it's been a year since then. We've silenced any growing Desian activity. There shouldn't be any Desians left." He looked troubled by what this could mean. The thought never really crossed my mind. But it was a little strange that there were still Desians around. The more I thought about it the more it troubled me as well.

Finally I mentioned what we both feared. "Maybe someone's leading the Desians. Like… Undercover or something."

It was silent for a while before Yuan answered. "It's possible. But why would they be undercover? Why would they continue to have those small Desian revolts after they've failed so many times? It doesn't make any sense."

"Either they're a real moron or a genius."

Yuan stood, "I'm going to continue looking." He walked back to the debris and started searching again. I got up and continued as well. What if we were right? What if someone really was leading the Desians? We might have another Cruxis on our hands. Although what surprised me the most was that no one ever questioned the Desians till now. That in itself was a little troubling.

"Kratos! Come look at this!" Yuan yelled, snapping me out of my brooding thoughts. I quickly made my way towards him.

"What? What is it?"

He pointed at something on the ground. I looked down and saw a helmet. It was cracked, covered in dirt and part of it was missing. "That's not a Desian helmet," Yuan gravely stated.

"What? But it looks just like a Desian helmet." I lifted an eyebrow in confusion.

"Look," Yuan knelt down, "there's a design on it. That's no Desian symbol." He said pointing at a small design on the side of the helmet. It was covered in dirt and hard to make out but Yuan was right.

"You don't think… The 'Desians' are actually not Desians at all… That they're just pretending to be? Like the Renegades did." Yuan quietly mumbled.

"Shit," I muttered.

Damn it. What has Yuan gotten me in to?

**Authors Note: ** In my opinion I think Kratos would have put a little bit more of a fight up with Yuan in helping him out. But I kind of suck at arguing scenes so he didn't. ;;


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I do not own Tales of Symphonia.

Yeah… This took forever to do. I'm really sorry. I had a major writers block but I'm back on track now. So updates shouldn't take as long anymore.

Chapter 5

How annoying.

Not only was the design covered in dirt and ash. But it also was the same dark color as the rest of the helmet. It's a little surprising Yuan even saw it, but half elves eyesight is far better than humans.

"Can you tell what it is?"

He glanced at me before going back to examining the strange symbol. "No… Ugh! Why the hell does it have to be the same color as the rest of the helmet?" He growled in frustration.

"It's hiding," I mumbled.

"What?"

"It's the same color so it blends in. It's avoiding being seen, but still there to express itself."

It was easy to tell Yuan masked his surprise and realization with a scowl. "I knew that! It was just a rhetorical question."

"Uh huh," I said in a sarcastic tone.

Yuan opened his mouth to make a rude comeback but I cut him off. "What do you think it looks like?"

He glared at me before turning his attention back to the helmet. "I don't know, it kind of looks like a very badly drawn ampersand sign."

I rubbed the symbol with my index finger, soon tracing over it. "Feels like… There's an 'S' with a diagonal line going half way through it and another line against the left side." I brought it a little closer to see it better. "Kind of like a--- "

"What do you think you're doing!"

Our heads snap up looking for the source of the unknown voice. We had been so concentrated on the design we didn't even notice someone approaching. Bad mistake. We spun around to find a cloaked figure standing on a large pile of rubble. Their face was well hidden by their hood, so we were unable to identify who they were.

Seeing our faces clearly the cloaked figure was taken aback. "Y-Yuan… But… So you survived." The figure growled softly in frustration.

By their voice you could tell it was a female. I glanced at Yuan. "You know her?" Yuan shook his head. "Well she apparently knows you. And by what she just said she has to do something with last night's invasion."

"Do you like stating the obvious just to hear yourself talk?" Yuan asked in annoyed sarcasm. I only 'hmphed' at his remark. Yuan stood up and glared at the woman. "Who are you? Were you the one leading last night's attack?"

"And why should I answer to a lowly life like you? Go crawl back into the hole you came out of." Her voice was cold as ice, but Yuan was not fazed. His scowl deepened as he took a step closer while taking out his Swallow.

"Fine then. I'll force it out of you."

Oh great. I was hoping he wouldn't rush into battle and instead continue to argue for a bit. If played right we could have gotten more information. It would have been smart to avoid fighting at all since Yuan still hasn't fully recovered yet. But before I could stop him, Yuan launched into the air toward the woman. He brought the Swallow over his head and swung at his enemy. She easily dodged it and unsheathed a sword she had hidden under her cloak.

"Fool," she went to attack. But Yuan was quick to react, bringing the other side of the Swallow around. The two blades clashed with each other. Yuan jumped back and got into his fighting stance.

Sighing, I decided to join the battle. I unsheathed Flamberge and carefully moved closer to the battle. Meeting Yuan's glance we both nodded. At the same time we charged at our opponent. I swung first; as she dodged, Yuan came around with his blade. She caught it with her sword. But I was coming in with my second attack. I retracted my sword and lunged forward. She managed to dodge it but not without being hit on her right side. She let out a soft cry, warm blood beginning to soak her cloak. Seeing an opening Yuan twisted his Swallow to slash upwards. Just managing to escape Yuan's attack she jumped back, breathing hard. Yuan's attack may not have hurt her but it made a large tear in her cloak.

Noticing her identity was at risk she sheathed her sword. "You got lucky this time. It won't happen again." Covering her face she retreated and ran off.

"Hey! Get back here!" Yuan yelled as he ran after her. She jumped down a small cliff and as Yuan and I looked over she was gone. "Where the hell did she go?"

"You're an idiot." I said coldly, turning back to go home.

Yuan spun around to face me. "What? Why?"

"Why did you rush into battle like that? We could have found out more information if you didn't lose your temper. Think for once. Now we have to wait till they come back to attack us again in hopes of finding out anything. You dragged me all the way out here to figure out what happened and you completely ruin our chance." My harsh tone even surprised me. Glancing back and seeing Yuan's expression made me suddenly wish I could take it back.

He opened his mouth to defend himself but found nothing to say so he closed it. "Sorry…" Was all he muttered.

I mentally winced, now I really regret yelling at him like that. Why I feel so guilty is way beyond me, he deserves it. But even knowing that doesn't help the guilt go away. "Forget it. What's done is done. No point in yelling about it." Continuing my walk to the rheairds, I pointed to the helmet. "There's no point in sticking around here anymore so let's take the helmet and go home."

Yuan nodded and jogged over and picked up the helmet. We mounted our rheairds and headed home. It was only late afternoon and I ached all over.

**Author's note:**

Yay!! Finally I'm done with chapter 5! Onto chapter 6!


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I do not own Tales of Symphonia.

**Author's note: **Haha, look at that, I'm back! I can't apologize enough for my delay. It first started out with the usual writers block and my annoying habit of being a procrastinator. Although personal problems came about causing me to completely forget about this fanfic for a few months. I apologize again. Now that things have settled down I plan on continuing it at a regular pace. If you have forgotten what's happened I took this time to also fix up chapters 1-3 so they're not as painful to read anymore. Anyway, enough of my blabber, on with the story!

**Chapter 6**

"So how long are you not going to talk to me?"

"Huh?" Yuan looked up from the book he was reading. "What are you talking about?"

The ride home was silent and as soon as we arrived we both took a needed shower. Maybe it was from eating out a sheer boredom all the time but I actually felt slightly hungry. So I decided to make dinner and have a nice meal. Yuan hadn't said a word since I yelled at him. It was painfully obvious he was mad at me. It was a little surprising he sat at the dinner table and joined me. But that might be because I kind of forced a full plate of food in front of him. It was my own little way of saying there was no hard feelings. But it would seem Yuan didn't catch on. Considering he still had that blank look on his face. I had been hoping after getting cleaned up and getting comfortable we could move on to important matters. But with Yuan acting this way that was going to be impossible. Even so, I was going to try. Maybe Yuan would stop ignoring me if it came to talking about his invader. But no such luck. I tried several times and all he gave was a grunt in response. So deciding not to deal with his childish behavior anymore I left the room. One head's better than none. Two would be preferred though.

I attempted to figure out what the symbol meant, for a good ten minutes. My mind was too blurred with guilt though. I don't see why. Yuan needs to learn from his mistakes, there's no reason to feel guilty about pointing them out. Yet no matter how many times I told myself that the feeling didn't go away. It continued to gnaw at the back of my head. Nothing was going to get done at this rate so I got up, walked into the kitchen and confronted Yuan.

So here we are, me standing at one end of the table, Yuan sitting at the other.

"You know very well what I'm talking about." Ugh, wonderful. He was going to play the innocent card.

"I'm afraid I don't." He went back to reading his book. His face was blank of any emotion. His voice was so mono tone too. It got on my nerves. This was all so pointless. Yuan had a knack for acting like a child lately. I wasn't going to apologize either. I'll admit I was a little rough back there for yelling at him. But if that's what it takes for Yuan to realize his mistakes then so be it.

I snatched the book Yuan had been reading. "That's enough. Stop acting like a two year old. People's lives may be endangered and you're throwing a hissy-fit." I tried my best to keep the anger out of my tone but it was difficult not too.

Yuan's blank look turned into cold glare. "Why do you want my help so bad? You obviously know everything and always know what to do. I would just get in your way Your Highness." The last part of that sentence came out in a hiss. Saying Yuan was pissed was an understatement.

This whole fight made me groan inwardly, it was starting to give me a headache. "Will you stop this nonsense? You over reacted back there and it cost us vital information. Despite if I was rough or not, does not change the fact that you need to control your anger better."

Yuan suddenly shot up from his chair, sending it tumbling backwards onto the floor. His hands had slammed down onto the table, making a loud slam. His glare looked cold enough to freeze water. "Over reacted? Over reacted! That bitch destroyed my base! My home! She helped kill dozens of my men! And you're saying I 'over reacted'! Well I'm sorry I have emotions like normal beings! Unlike _you_! Sometimes I even wonder if you have a heart!"

I took a step back. His last comment stun badly enough it actually made me stagger. I wasn't sure how to react; all I could do was to stare at him. Did he really think that way about me? Was I really that heartless? The thought of how this whole mess affected Yuan never really occurred to me. The Renegades were kind of like his family. Heh, guess I was the one who acted without thinking.

Yuan stood there, watching me. He was breathing slightly hard from all his yelling. His eyes were full of rage and even hurt. That made it extremely difficult to look at him. To know they were directed at me made things even worse. My gaze had sunk down to the table in front of me. "I'm sorry. I didn't… Sorry." I never was good at apologizing. Glancing up at Yuan showed me his eyes hadn't softened at all. Damn. He was going to make this as hard on me as he could. "Look… I was the one that acted without thinking. I shouldn't have yelled at you." Still, Yuan's eyes remained a blaze with rage. "So… Can you forgive me?" Yuan still just continued to glare at me. "What? I said I was sorry! I'm an idiot, okay?"

For a moment Yuan's glared turned into a look of shock. His slightly parted lips soon turned into a smile though. "The Great Kratos… Just admitted he wasn't perfect! This truly is a historical turn of events!" He chuckled. It was my turn to glare this time. That ass, did he plan on this? I was about to say some smartass comeback about how I never said I was perfect, but the look on Yuan's face stopped me. Before either of us knew it we were both laughing. Thankfully the tension in the room was dissipating. As our laughter died down Yuan had the oddest smirk on his face. It looked like one of his 'Ha, I just made you do exactly what I wanted' smirks, yet it seemed very different. Like he wanted to smile, but decided not to so he tried to hide it with a smirk. If that even makes any sense.

No matter what it was or its meaning it was starting to freak me out. Yuan seems to be doing that a lot lately, that and those stupid awkward silences. We have been having a lot of those lately too. Which is the reason I hated being around Yuan it felt so weird.

"So uh… Since you're talking to me again we should get down to business." I reached over and grabbed the helmet. Yuan nodded his agreement and turned his attention to the head armor in my hands.

"So what do you think the symbol is?"

I took a closer look at the helmet. "Like I was going to say before that woman came. It looks to have a backwards capitalized 'R' infused with an 'S'." Squinting my eyes slightly, bringing the helmet even closer. "Or possibly there is a 'K' and a 'J'. " A frown formed on my lips. "Maybe even a weird looking 'Y'."

Yuan rolled his eyes. "Well that certainly helps. It looks like five different letters. How do we know which ones?"

Sighing, I leaned against a chair. This problem could have been completely avoided if we had talked to that woman more. But I kept that comment to myself. Yuan leaned over and tapped the symbol. "Even if we figure out the letters what help will it do us? It's not like we could guess what it means. We don't know enough to even begin to guess."

I gave him a frustrated look. "Well what else can we do? It might not help us now but it could later on." A small silence followed. We both sighed deeply. The way Yuan rubbed his temples it was obvious to see a headache was forming. I couldn't blame him; this was all rather frustrating and annoying.

It was then that an idea had dawned on me. "What if we went around asking people what they thought of the symbol? Or if they knew any more information." It wasn't the best idea. I didn't think any ordinary citizen would know about a secret organization, unless of course they were part of it. But never the less, it was an idea.

Yuan gave it some thought before agreeing. "Alright, we have nothing to loose."

Straightening myself I got a glimpse of Yuan yawning. It made me think about how tired I was as well. "Why don't we worry about this tomorrow, it's late already. We should rest." Yuan was happy to go along with that as he made his way to the couch.

I made my way to my bedroom, closing the door behind me. Collapsing onto my bed, the soft comfortable landing was like pure bliss. Snuggling into my pillow it felt nice to relax my sore muscles. It felt good to have my body finally rest yet my mind refused to do the same. I couldn't believe how much had happened in one day. We hadn't found out much, but we found out enough to leave me worried. With so little information it let my mind wonder on the possibilities. I forced such thoughts from my head though. If I let my mind feed my fears I'll begin to think it's true. Fear could cause mistakes. Today was a good example why it was best to prevent making mistakes. A disgruntled sound came from my throat as I squeezed my eyes tightly shut. Even as I drifted into sleep I couldn't help but worry.


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: Tales of Symphonia is not mine.

Chapter 7

I had awoken that morning rather restlessly. My troubled mind woke me up half way through the night and I was unable to fall back asleep. Although looking on the bright side it gave me time to think. A yawn escaped me, my body hurt even more than yesterday. As I lifted myself off my bed, a muffled thump could be heard from the living room. What was he doing? A little chuckle escaped me at the thought of him suddenly falling off the couch. Entering the living room I found myself disappointed to find my harsh humor was wrong. He was fully dressed, fumbling around to make sure he had everything. "Well aren't you just raring to go?"

He looked up at me, finally realizing my presence. "Shut up. I want to find out what's going on." The look in his eyes told me he was just as tired as I was. He seemed much more restless about this than I did though.

"Calm down. It's still early, it'll be better if we do this in the afternoon." Yuan made a slight pouting face at the thought of having to wait. "Besides," Pausing to stretch, "I've been thinking about this. I don't know if it's such a good idea."

Yuan stopped what he was doing again to look at me. "Why not?"

"Because what if one of the people we ask is part of the organization. Or rumor spreads and the organization hears about us. It might bring trouble to us and the people of Luin. The organization wishes to be secret, I don't think they'll appreciate us risking their cover."

Yuan stifled a yawn as he thought about it. "That's true. But we don't even know for sure that there is an organization. It just seems to look that way. Things may not even be as serious as we're dreading. Besides if we don't do anything we're just helping the rebels to prosper. I think we should take that chance. If things start to get rough we can always move out of Luin to get these people out of danger. Hell, we could ask your son and his little friends to help. "

Yuan held a good argument. But a nauseating feeling continued to fester in my stomach. "If there is an organization, doing this will tell that we're on to them. It'll give them time to prepare."

"Prepare for what? Two guys? We may be Seraphims but we're not invincible. Not even with Lloyd and his friends would we stand a chance if we're out numbered. And calling for a good number of my Renegades would take precious time we probably wouldn't have. I think it's to late anyway. Whoever that woman was, she must be a part of it. She'll tell that she saw me alive and rummaging through the rubble of my base. That alone will cause them to come after us. Like you said, they wouldn't want us figuring them out."

Whoa. Yuan had really thought this through. Usually it was the other way around, I was lecturing him. I had to admit it was impressive. It was even more impressive that he wasn't rubbing my nose in the fact that he was waving every concern I had with logic. A small smile came across my features. "You're right Yuan; I guess I shouldn't be so worried all the time."

As Yuan turned I saw him smirk in triumph. With the Cruxis Crystal's enhancing my hearing it was easy to hear him mutter, "That's two points for Yuan, zero for Kratos."

My eye twitched as I gave him a dirty glare. "What was that?"

He jerked around, laughing nervously. "Oh nothing! Nothing at all!" After another moment of glaring at him I turned and made my way to the kitchen. It was a little disappointing not to see a nice breakfast waiting for me like yesterday. But oh well. Not really being in the mood to cook, I took out some cereal along with the milk, spoon and bowl. Taking my first spoonful of my sugar-coated product Yuan walked in. He was staring at me oddly. Not the odd look that freaked me out. This time it was more like I seemed to have two heads. Although at the moment I was too tired to care enough to say anything. I continued to eat, until Yuan finally had to say something. "Why do you eat?" I understood what he meant, since the Cruxis Crystals make it unnecessary to eat, but the question still sounded odd. Part of me was tempted to sarcastically reply with 'To live,' but decided not too. Instead I told him the sad truth of it.

"It gives me something to do." I stuck another spoonful in my mouth.

Yuan blinked, seeming to have been taken off guard by such a blunt reply. Although he soon recovered as he started laughing. There was no point in getting angry since I knew Yuan was going to laugh anyway. If this were the other way around, I would have laughed too. Although once Yuan continued to laugh nonstop for a minute or two my anger rose. "It's not _that_ funny." After Yuan's laughter died down, he held a very amused smirk at me.

"I knew you didn't get out much. But I didn't think your life was that pathetic! To think you need to amuse yourself by eating." He chuckled lightly, "Careful you don't get fat."

A fixed glare was on him. "What about you? You made breakfast yesterday when no one asked you too. You seem to be pretty good at cooking considering you have much better things to do then eat."

Yuan wasn't fazed by my weak argument. "I've always been good at cooking, it was my born talent. You know that, I was the one that always prepared the meals when we traveled with Mithos. And yesterday was simply because I had nothing better to do." He held up a finger, silencing me before I could say anything. "This being my first time in your home I don't know where everything is. So I had nothing to do. It would have been rude to go through your house to find something entertaining to do. I certainly didn't want to sit there and do nothing."

Grumbling under my breath, I stuck another spoonful of cereal in my mouth. "And going through my kitchen isn't rude." Yuan ignored my comment and sat himself next to me at the table.

"So who are we going to ask about the symbol?" Yuan rested his head in the palm of his hand as he leaned forward on the table.

"Palmacosta and Meltokio."

"Why choose those places?" Yuan's mouth twisted with confusion.

"Three reasons. One, they're far from Luin. So our enemies have a harder time of locating us. Two, Palmacosta and Meltokio have the best chance of defending themselves if it does cause a problem for the city. Three, they're two of the most populated cities in Symphonia. If we want to find any information out than our best chance is in those two places." He was nodding, thinking carefully about it.

"Alright, that sounds good." Yuan leaned back in his chair. "Well hurry up and finish eating. It'll take a while to fly there."

All that came from me was a grunt from the back of my throat. I wasn't very enthusiastic about talking to complete strangers all day. Especially since the chances that it would actually help us were very small. Continuing to eat a random thought came to mind. My gaze went from my cereal up to Yuan. "Hey Yuan," once he looked at me I went on, "What ever happened to your other bases?" The story had been told to me before, but back then I didn't really care enough so it completely slipped my mind.

A faint blush came to Yuan's face, as his eyes widening slightly. "Uh… Does that story really need to be told again? It's a thing of the past. Let's forget about it." Yuan's gaze darted around the room as he desperately tried to find something else to talk about. "So how about this room, Kratos? It seems a little to plain, ever think about painting it? I'd be happy to help." He smiled nervously.

My eyes narrowed at him, now I was interested. It had to be something good if Yuan was trying to avoid it like this. "What happened to them?"

Panic briefly filled his eyes, "Nothing!" His eyes once again searched for a distraction. Finding nothing Yuan gasped in amazement at something behind me. He pointed with wide eyes. "Holy shit what is that!?" Before I could even turn around to fall for his lame plan he had already started getting up to run away. Grabbing his cloak, I pulled him to me. "You realize… You're supposed to run _after _I turn around." What the hell could have happened to make Yuan act like this? Although I'll admit, it was pretty funny.

Yuan wiggled and squirmed, trying his best to get away. "I know that! I just knew you wouldn't fall for it!"

"Then why do it?"

Yuan, sighing in defeat, went slack. "Part of me hoped the few seconds it took to register it was a bluff I'd be far enough away."

My grin became wider. This was all so pathetically funny. "So what happened?"

Yuan's head jerked to glare at me. After a long moment he sighed, figuring he wasn't going to get away from it. "Well… You see… Once the worlds had joined together, the Renegades kept pestering me about which base I should have as my main one. I didn't really care. They both had their advantages and disadvantages. It started out as simple suggestions… But then the Renegades thought it would be fun to make it a competition. They wanted to see which base could win me over. Having enough of it I picked the Treit Base. But the Renegades in Flanoir didn't like that. So they got their revenge by doing minor pranks or little disobediences. Nothing serious enough to fire any of them, of course they got punished though. But the pranks continued. So I went to Flanoir and the same thing happened with the Treit Base. In the end… I ended up going into a crazy rage and destroying both bases." Yuan was looking at the far wall, blushing. "No one got hurt of course!" He quickly added.

I just stared at him. At the moment I was too shocked to do anything else. Although when the story had finally sunk in the laughter began. The image of Yuan running away, cursing all kinds of obscenities, as his Renegades holding little gifts ran after him, as they all yelled different reasons for him to stay. It made me laugh all the harder. Yuan swung around, gritting his teeth. "Stop laughing at me! It's humiliating enough, don't make it worse!" I covered my face with one of my hands as my laughter slowly started dieing.

Pushing some of my bangs out of the way, my gaze settled on Yuan. "Heh heh heh. It must be nice to have followers that love you so much they drive you mad."

"Shut up!" Yuan started struggling, "Will you let me go now!" I was still holding onto Yuan by his cloak. Noticing for the first time how close he was to me, my cheeks flushed slightly and I let go. Yuan, straightening him self up, grunted. "If I didn't know any better I'd say you purposely held me as close to you as possible."

Standing, picking my bowl up and carrying it to the sink, a faint chuckle passed my lips. "Good thing you don't know any better."

It was easy to feel Yuan staring daggers at me without even looking. Well I had to say that was a pretty entertaining morning. Leaving the kitchen, I went to my bedroom to get dressed. Maybe today won't be too bad.

**Author's note: ** Since I'm being very uncreative right now. When Lloyd combined the two worlds together they simply meshed together. So all the cities and what not are the same. The landmasses are the only thing that changed at all. I'm pretty sure I already said this, but in case I didn't. The new world is called Symphonia. How unoriginal. Haha. xP


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

Disclaimer: I don't own Tales of Symphonia.

Yeah… I'm just going to stop saying when the next chapter is going to be. Cause every time I say it'll be soon I jinx myself and something comes up and distracts me from this. Then I feel bad because I lied. So yeah… Sorry, I'll attempt to get the next chapter up as soon as possible.

**To Meowzy-chan and Cheea5:** Oh okay. Thank you. I never got to play Tales of Phantasia. xP

We landed our rheaireds in front of Palmacosta. The city had been completely rebuilt and looked brand new. Neil was still the mayor of the city. As we walked past the entrance we looked around.

"So where do we start?" Yuan said eyeing the people passing by.

"How about we ask Neil if he knows anything before we start harassing the citizens?" Yuan smiled at my sarcastic remark. Sad thing was I wasn't entirely sure I was joking.

"Sure, sounds good to me."

We pushed our way through the crowds of Palmacosta. It was difficult to dodge the salesmen as they forced their product in our faces. The aroma of all sorts of different food was in the air. Palmacosta was as busy as ever. It was kind of peaceful to see it so full of life again. I was abruptly snapped out of my thoughts when a salesman jumped in my way.

"Excuse me sir! But you simply must take a gander at my fresh vegetables!" The man said dramatically cheerful. His hand swept across his selection. "Perhaps you'd like some squash." Noticing I wasn't interested he picked up a carrot. "What about these healthy carrots." The man stuck the carrot in my face, noticing I was about to make my escape, he picked another vegetable up and stuck it in my face. "How about some freshly picked tomatoes?" My eyes widened in terror at the red vegetable just inches from my face. It left me speechless. Yuan, coming to my rescue pushed the man aside.

"We're not interested!" Yuan snarled, pulling my arm as we dashed off.

After we managed to escape the marketplace I looked to Yuan. "Thanks… For back there."

Yuan glanced at me and smiled. "Heh, don't mention it. We wouldn't want another tomato incident happening again, seeing that side of you was enough for one life time." He snickered as I glared at him. I could feel my cheeks flush softly. We made the rest of the way to Neil's office peacefully. We walked up the stairs leading to the building. One of the guards put his arm in front of me as I was about to pass by.

"Excuse me sir. No weapons aloud in the mayor's office." His tone rang with authority as he glanced at my sword. Yuan and I shared a look before nodding. Unhooking my belt I handed it to the large man. "Thank you sir, safety precautions must be followed. " Nodding again Yuan and I opened the office doors. Neil looked up with tired eyes, some of his green hair falling into his face.

"Lord Kratos, Lord Yuan. It's a pleasure to see you both again." He smiled gently as he got up and walked in front of his desk.

Yuan returned the smile, "It's been a while." His smile faded, "You look awful. When was the last time you got some sleep?" Yuan looked him over. "Or went outside?"

Neil chuckled, brushing some of his bangs to the side of his face. "Being mayor isn't as easy as I thought."

Yuan sighed and rested his hand on Neil's shoulder sympathetically. "I know how you feel."

"Yes, I would image you have it much worse than myself. Running an entire government must be extremely difficult and tiring."

Yuan's gaze sunk to the floor. "It was…"

"Was? What do you mean by that?"

"Symphonia Base has been destroyed." I said simply.

Neil looked at me like I sprouted a new head. "W-What? How? By who?" He looked from me to Yuan and back to me.

"We're not really sure about the details. That's why we're here." I folded my arms.

Yuan looked back up at Neil. "We were hoping you might know something."

"Like what? What kind of information could I possibly have?"

Quickly making sure there was no one in ear shot, my gaze fell on Neil. "There might be hidden rebellions about the new world."

"Hidden rebellions? Aren't they just the left over Desians?"

"Doubt it. Right now I think we have another Cruxis in the making." Neil paled as his eyes widened.

"Kratos! Stop exaggerating! You're going to give someone a heart attack." He looked to Neil, "That's just what we fear. We don't have hard proof of this. We just believe the 'Desians' are more than they appear to be."

Neil swiped a hand across his pale face and looked to Yuan. "Then who do you think they are?"

"That's what we'd like to know." Yuan sighed and looked at me. "Show it to him."

I nodded and began unwrapping the helmet we held in a small blanket. Carrying around a Desian helmet would have looked strange, so we covered it up. I placed it on Neil's desk. He came around and sat down in his chair, moving forward to pick up the armor object. "A Desian helmet…?"

"Look on the side. There's a strange symbol on it."

Neil did as I told him and spotted the symbol. He ran his fingers over it. "I suppose you wouldn't know what it means." He glanced up at us as we shook our heads. "What a strange symbol…" He muttered to himself as he redirected his attention back to the helmet.

Sitting down in one of the chairs in front of Neil's desk, a scowl appeared. "We can not allow this information to get out. I imagine it won't be to long till people discover Yuan's base a complete wreck. But that can be covered up by some excuse. If people find out there might be a second Cruxis there's a good chance hysteria would break out. Such hysteria might bring the organization to come out of hiding and ruin any chance we have of crushing it." Quickly glancing to Yuan, who had also sat down, "if there is an organization."

Neil nodded. "I agree. We may not know for certain of who's behind this, but we must act as if it is a hidden revolt. It's better to be safe than sorry."

Yuan leaned back in his chair. "So have you seen anything suspicious?"

Neil wiped a hand across his face. "Something strange has been going on lately. Palmacosta was peaceful and my job was fairly easy. But a few weeks ago murders starting taking place. It's got the city spooked. I've been working all-nighters to try and capture the criminal. But it feels like I'm going no where in the investigation."

Yuan shifted in his seat. "How many cases?"

"Five." Neil picked up one of the many pieces of paper on his cluttered desk.

I gripped the armrests. "What do they all have in common?"

Neil read the paper for a moment. "Nothing really. Three of the victims were half-elves, two were humans. They had no relation to each other at all. The only common thing is that they were all killed at night. Not even cause of death was the same. Which either means there's more than one killer or the bastard just wants us to think there is. "

"Well who were they? Were they similar people?" Yuan was on the edge of his seat.

"We looked at each person's background and they didn't have anything worth killing them over. They all were completely different people, but normal citizens." Neil sighed.

I rolled the new information around in my head for a while. Was this related to the invasion of Yuan's Base? It could simply be a serial killer. It was disappointing to have gotten no real help on the subject. "That's the only suspicious thing you've noticed?"

Neil stared into my eyes for a long moment. "I'm afraid so. People seem a little more on edge lately but I believe that's only because of the murders."

Standing, my head bowed slightly. "Thank you for the help. We'll be off now." Yuan looked up in surprise but rose as well. "If you find out any more information please inform us."

He nodded. "Of course, good luck you two."

With that we left, the guard handing back my sword, we walked to the end of Palmacosta. "Why are we leaving already?" Yuan asked.

"If Neil doesn't know than chances are no one in Palmacosta is going to know. Besides, I don't want to risk hysteria breaking out because of some stupid rumor. Cities are the birth of most rumors; you know that as well as I do." Yuan nodded slowly. We mounted our rheaireds and headed for Meltokio.

**Author's note: **I couldn't help but mention Kratos's great distaste of tomatoes. Perhaps I'll show that flashback in a later chapter. xD

On a side note, I just found out Anna lived in Luin. I found it ironic how I chose Kratos to live in Luin as well.


End file.
